Should I be worried?

[harlemrain]

Hey Guys,

Haven't been on here in ages but starting to stress about my coastal x diamond (Port Mac Python) as he hasn't eaten in almost four months, and as I don't lower temperatures for hibernation I don't understand why.

I have offered the following to him over the past four months:

• Quail
• Rabbit
• Rat

I have tried feeding him during the day, at night time, different food, different sizes of the same food, he was in his normal glass tank for the first two months, for the last two months he's been in his large melamine enclose, it has a basking ledge sitting at 32 degrees and he can escape the heat at the bottom of his enclosure. I've had him with his usual substrate sand, and about three weeks ago changed to kritter krumbles.

He is 3.5 years old, as I didn't power feed him I don't know if his lack of appetite is due to reaching full growth or not, but two weeks ago he struck the rabbit, started to eat him so I went to bed as his mouth was wrapped around it's head, woke up the next morning to find it still in his enclosure. Tried feeding him a smaller rat again today, wouldn't strike but seemed very interested in it.

This is probably going to sound ridiculous but I know he's hungry, some nights he paces up and down his enclosure, normally when he does this I feed him within the next day or two and I've never had any issues with feeding him until now. I've also tried braining his food, which is what I think got him to go for the rabbit, so I don't know what else to try, or should I just not be concerned he will eat when he's hungry?

 

[PythonLegs]

Raise the hot spot to 34, offer him nothing for three weeks and try again. If your temp has been constant throughout winter he may not have gone back into summer mode yet.
Four months is not unusual.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

From what you describe he has other things on his mind.
He knows what time of year it is & wants to take advantage of it.

 

[pythoninfinite]

If it's a male, this behaviour is quite usual for this time of the year. Mature males very frequently go off their food for 4-6 months from early winter through to late spring because they are driven by hormones at this time of the year. The pacing in the enclosure is not related to food, it's him looking for a mate. I wouldn't bother offering food until maybe mid-December - he will be fine and begin feeding again when he's ready, to keep offering food is simply a waste until you're sure he will eat it.

Btw, if the snake is genuinely from the Port Mac region, it's not a Diamond x Coastal, it's a Carpet locale in itself.

Jamie

 

[kittybelle]

It's not unusual. If he's dropped weight and seems sick, take him to a vet as there could be something wrong. If he's not dropping weight and is still active, don't stress. Try feeding in a few weeks.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[harlemrain]

Thanks for all your replies, I figured I was being overly worried about nothing but wanted to double check